In construction today, electrical wires are usually connected in one of three ways. The first is by using a twist on cap. One usually strips both wires of insulation at the ends, than twists the wires together then screws a cap on over the connection. The second way is by soldering two wires together. Here again one usually strips both wires of insulation at the ends, than twists the wires together and then solders them. The third method is by striping both wires of insulation at the ends, than twisting the wires together and then taping them or placing some type of shrink wrapping over top of them. Once the wires have been connected, then they are usually forced into an electric junction box which is made out of metal or plastic. This system results in many problems. The first being that these methods can result in a poor connection and wires tangled together, as a result of trying to connect the hot, neutral and ground ends together for three or more wires. Thus, the electric does not get to the point where it is wanted. This is especially true if the junction box is in a damp area, or dampness gets into the connection causing the connection to be poor. Secondly, these wires in a poor connection or if the insulation is striped to far can get up against the metal junction box and be grounded causing a short circuit. Short circuits have caused damage ranging from the surges to fires within buildings. Thus, one of the objectives of this invention is to create a union box that allows for the connection of wires perfectly every time. Secondly, the objective is to create a union box that almost completely eliminates the possibility of any type of short occurring by separating and securing wires through the electric junction box and into the multi wire union box.
As pointed out above the three basic methods of attaching wires today is to twist the wires together then either place a cap over them, wrap them with shrink wrap material or tape, or solder them. All three of these ways are time consuming. It would be much easier for the electric contractor to just push the wires into a box. Thus, an objective of this invention is to create a method to attach wires that creates a nearly perfect connection every time that is quick and easy.
Another major problem that occurs is that usually there are several cables of three wires coming into the standard junction box either at the same entry point or through a variety of entry points in the junction box that need to be connected together. These wires must be twisted around each other so the can be connected by the above methods then they are shoved into a junction box which is closed. By shoving them into the junction box one puts strain on connections and may break some of the connections. Also, if the connections or insulation is less than perfect there may be some exposed wire that could short across another wire. This is especially a problem if a wire overheats or moisture collects on the wire. Thus, one of the objectives of this invention is to create a method to attach multiple wires together that is easy, and creates a connection with the cables entering the junction box and then the wires being pushed directly into their appropriate portal with no tangles or intermixing or the hot, neutral and ground.
Electrical push-in technology as it currently exists does not address the standard electrical distribution junction boxes.
The features that allows the inventors device to do this is that he has created a box that allows two or more wires to be connected together easily by just shoving them into the portal of the box. These boxes can be easily attached together so that one can connect two or more cables together with each cable separated and the three or more wires of each cable are pushed into the same area, relevant to the cable entry point in an unconfused or untangled manner.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to solve the problems put forth above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,032 to Adkins, U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,971 to May, U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,443 to Filgert, et. al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,754 to Adkins all show electrical boxes for connecting wires.
The biggest problem with all four of these systems is that their boxes contain an assortment of busses that would be difficult and expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,443 to Filgert shows many boxes that are used to hook up modular switches and receptacle unites. In looking through the drawing one sees that these boxes are very complicated and have a very complicated bus system. The bus itself in Filgert contains at least three different pieces of metal that are bent in different shapes and one has a bus with at least a half dozen pieces. There are also many other components that make up the box. It also looks like in reading through Filgert that there are several different types of boxes that are needed for an electrical system within the house. Applicant's union box is a simple construction that consists of a single bus and it can be adapted to be used with any hook up. Thus applicant's box would be considerable cheaper to manufacture and assemble.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,971 to May also show boxes for hooking up an electrical system for a home. Here again the boxes have complicated interior structures for each wire hook up. Also, one would need a different box for different types of hook ups within the home. This would add tremendously to the expense of manufacturing. This system of box would clearly be considerably more expensive to manufacture and assemble than applicant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,754 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,032 both to Adkins show a slightly simpler box. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,754 Adkins shows a box with three different busses to hook up three different sets of wires and plates of different configuration to hold on these busses. There are also different plates to hold on different other connectors. Although this box is simple it still would be extremely complicated to make and expensive. Adkin's box can, however, be adapted to use for the whole electrical system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,032 shows a box with three internal busses shown in FIG. 3. All these busses would have to be separately stamped and would make this box far more expensive than applicant's device.